Over the River & Through the Woods

To quote the opening of a great American film series:

"I found out long ago...
It's a long way down the holiday road."
:)

We are back and settled from our Christmas Tour de Georgia 2012, and despite spending quite a few hours in the car, we had a great time! (And we know that also means we have lots of people to see and spend the holiday with, so we are thankful for that!)

We both worked through the end of last week before having a much-anticipated A&W Christmas on Friday night. We went a little overboard...

 
But what a great way to start Christmas vacation! Our first stop outside of Atlanta was Peachtree City on Saturday morning for cookie and tree decorating. This was my first year to participate in cookie decorating, although I have enjoyed them after Christmas for quite a few years. After the decor was done, we had lunch and admired our handiwork!

Next, it was on to the Boro for a couple of days. We just relaxed on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and then we headed to Nevils for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. And with Nevils Christmas comes the annual oyster roast!

 
As you can see, one of us is a fan and one of us is a bystander. :)

Of course there was plenty of other food for the non-oyster eaters, as well as a toasty fire, presents for the littles and the grandparents, and envelopes for everyone else. Always a great gift!

On Christmas Eve, we had a few last minute Boro-specific gifts to pick up. We stopped at Sugar Magnolia for breakfast and then made it to seven different places (making purchases at all of them) in about an hour and a half. Maybe that seems normal, but in Atlanta time...that about equals getting to Lenox and parking...

That night, it turned rainy and yucky, so we decided to just stay in for drinks, appetizers, and a viewing of A Christmas Story on TBS. Toby, Rocco, and Koda joined us for the movie, and let's just say it felt like we had our own version of the Bumpuses' dogs! They were quite...active. But we made it through the movie and headed to bed to wait for Santa!

On Christmas morning, we had our traditional brunch (and mimosas) with my mom's side of the family. After that, there were presents (and traditional scratch-off tickets) for all.

We were very happy with our "loot" (which included our own little piece of the famous Sanford Stadium hedges!) but also very happy to get to be there for all the holiday happenings.

Around lunchtime, we packed up again and made our way back to Peachtree City. It was a rainy drive but thankfully uneventful. Andrew's mom was hosting a Christmas dinner for friends, and we arrived just in time to unload, change, and join the guests as they arrived.

It was a potluck, so we had lots of food and other goodies -- including a plum pudding for dessert! We hear this is a Christmas tradition, and we were brave enough to sample it. Not too bad! Especially with brandy sauce. :)

After everyone went home, we had yet another round of present unwrapping with Andrew's mom, grandma, and brother, and we were excited to receive even more great gifts! We were pretty tired after our long day, so we went on to bed after that. And maybe slept in a little the next day. But we both had Wednesday off of work, so we were able to spend most of the day in Peachtree City just visiting before we had to get back on the road to ATL.

Hope you had yourself a merry little Christmas! We sure did.